March. 1770. very rarely detected in any act of dishonesty. Before, indeed, and while they confidered us as enemies, who came upon their coaft only to make an advantage of them, they did not fcruple by any means to make an advantage of us; and would, therefore, when they had received the price of any thing they had offered to fell, pack up both the purchase and the purchase-money with all poffible compofure, as fo much lawful plunder from the people who had no view but to plunder them. I have obferved that our friends in the South Seas had not even the idea of indecency, with refpect to any object or any action; but this was by no means the cafe with the inhabitants of New Zealand, in whose carriage and converfation there was as much modest reserve and decorum with refpect to actions, which yet in their opinion were not criminal, as are to be found among the politeft people in Europe. The women were not impregnable; but the terms and manner of compliance were as decent as thofe in marriage among us, and according to their notions, the agreement was as innocent. When any of our people made an overture to any of their young women, he was given to understand that the confent of her friends was neceffary, and by the influence of a pro. per prefent, it was generally obtained; but when these preliminaries are feitled, it was alfo neceffary to treat the wife for a night, with the fame delicacy that is here required by the wife for life, and the lover who prefufied to take any liberties by which this was violated, was fure to be disappointed. 66 One of our gentlemen having made his addreffes to a family of the better fort, received an answer, which, tranflated into our language, according to the mode and fpirit of it, as well as the letter, would have been exactly in these terms: Any of these young ladies will think themfelves honoured by your addreffes, but you must first make me a suitable prefent, and you must then come and fleep with us on fhore, for day-light muft by no means be a witnefs of what paffes between you." I have already obferved, that in perfonal cleanlinef they are not quite equal to our friends at Otaheite; because, because, not having the advantage of fo warm a climate, they do not fo often go into the water; but the most difguftful thing about them is the oil, with which, like the Manders, they anoint their hair: it is certainly the fat either of fith or of birds, melted down, and though the better fort have it freth, their inferiors ufe that which is rancid, and confequently are almost as disagreeable to the smell as a Hottentot; neither are their heads free from vermin, though we obferved that they were furnifhed with combs, both of bone and wood: these combs are fometimes worn fuck upright in the hair as an ornament, a fashion which at prefent prevails among the ladies of England. The men generally wear their beards fhort, and their hair tied upon the crown of the head in a bunch, in which they flick the feathers of various birds, in different manners, according to their fancies; fometimes one is placed on each fide of the temples, pointing forwards, which we thought made a very difagreeable appearance. The women wear their hair fometimes cropped fhort, and fometimes flowing over their thoulders. The bodies of both fexes are marked with the black ftains called Amoco, by the fame method that is ufed at Otaheite, and called Tattowing; but the men are more marked, and the women lefs. The women in general ftain no part of their bodies but the lips, though fometimes they are marked with small black patches on other parts: the men, on the contrary, feem to add fomething every year to the ornaments of the laft, fo that fome of them, who appeared to be of an advanced age, were almost covered from head to foot. Befides the Amoco, they have marks impreffed by a method unknown to us, of a very extraordinary kind: they are furrows of about a line deep and a line broad, fuch as appear upon the bark of a tree which has been cut through, after a year's growth: the edges of thefe furrows are afterwards indented by the fame method, and being perfectly black, they make a moft frightful appearance. The faces of the old men are almoft covered with thefe marks; those who are young, black only their lips like the women: when they are fomewhat older, they have generally a black patch 1770. March. 1770 patch upon one cheek, and over one eye, and so proMarch. ceed gradually, that they may grow old and honour able together: but though we could not but be difgufted with the horrid deformity which these stains and furrows produced in the "human face divine," we could not but admire the dexterity and art with which they were impreffed. The marks upon the face in general are fpirals, which are drawn with great nicety, and even elegance, thofe on one fide exactly corresponding with thofe on the other: the marks on the body fomewhat refemble the foliage in old chafed ornaments, and the convolutions of fillagree work; but in these they have fuch a luxuriance of fancy, that of an hundred, which at first sight appeared to be exactly the fame, no two were, upon a clofe examination, found to be alike. We obferved, that the quantity and form of these marks were different in different parts. of the coaft, and that as the principal feat of them at Otaheite was the breech, in New Zealand it was fometimes the only part which was free, and in general was lefs diftinguished than any other, The fkins of these people, however, are not only dyed, but painted, for as I have before observed, they fmear their bodies with red oker, fome rubbing it on dry, and fome applying it in large patches mixed with oil, which is always wet, and which the leaft touch will rub off; fo that the tranfgreffions of fuch of our people as were guilty of ravishing a kifs from these blooming beauties, were moft legibly written upon their faces. The drefs of a New Zealander is certainly, to a ftranger at first fight, the most uncouth that can be imagined. It is made of the leaves of the flag, which has been defcribed among the vegetable productions of this country these leaves are split into three or four flips, and the flips, when they are dry, interwoven with eatin other into a kind of ftuff between netting and cloth, with all the ends, which are eight or nine inches long, hanging out on the upper fide, like the fhag or thrumb mats, which we fometimes fee lying in a paffage. Of this cloth, if cloth it may be called, two pieces ferve for a compleat drefs; one of them is tied over their fhoulders with a flring, and reaches as low as the knees; to the end of this ftring is fastened a bodkin of bone, which is easily passed through any two parts of this up- 1770. per garment, fo as to tack them together; the other, March. piece is wrapped round the waift, and reaches nearly to the ground: the lower garment, however, is worn. by the men only upon particular occafions; but they wear a belt, to which a ftring is faftened, for very fingular use. The inhabitants of the South Sea islands flit up the prepuce fo as to prevent it from covering the glans of the penis, but these people, on the contrary, bring the prepuce over the glans, and to prevent it from being drawn back by contraction of the part, they tie the string which hangs from the girdle round the end of it. The glans indeed feemed to be the only part of their body which they were folicitous to conceal, for they frequently threw off all their drefs but the belt and ftring, with the most careless indifference, but fhewed manifeft figns of confufion, when, to gratify our curiofity, they were requested to untie the ftring, and never confented but with the utmost reluctance and shame. When they have only their upper garment on, and sit upon their hams, they bear fome refemblance to a thatched houfe; but this covering, though it is ugly, is well adapted to the use of those who frequently fleep in the open air, without any other shelter from the rain. But befides this coarse fhag or thatch, they have two forts of cloth, which have an even furface, and are very ingeniously made, in the fame manner with that manufactured by the inhabitants of South America, fome of which we procured at Rio-de Janeiro. One fort is as coarse as our coarseft canvas, and fomev hat resembles it in the manner of laying the threads, but it is ten times as strong the other is formed by many threads lying very clofe one way, and a few crofling them the other, fo as to bind them together; but thefe are about half an inch afunder, fomewhat like the round pieces of cane matting which are fometimes placed under the dishes upon a table. This is frequently ftriped, and always had a pretty appearance; for it is compofed of the fibres of the fame plant, which are prepared fo as to fhine like filk. It is made in a kind of frame of the fize of the cloth, generally about five feet long, and four broad, across which the long threads, which lie VOL. II. S clofe 1770. close together, or wrap, are ftrained, and the cross threads, or woof, are worked in by hand, which must be a very tedious operation. March. To both these kinds of cloth they work borders of different colours, in ftitches, fomewhat like carpeting, or rather like thofe ufed in the famplers which girls work at school. These borders are of various patterns, and wrought with a neatnefs, and even an elegance, which, confidering they have no needle, is furprizing: but the great pride of their drefs confifts in the fur of their dogs, which they ufe with fuch œconomy, that they cut it into stripes, and few them upon their cloth at a distance from each other, which is a ftrong proof that dogs are not plenty among them; thefe ftripes are alfo of different colours, and difpofed fo as to produce a pleafing effect. We faw fome dreffes that were adorned with feathers instead of fur, but these were not common; and we faw one that was intirely covered with the red feathers of the parrot. The drefs of the man who was killed, when we first went afhore in Poverty Bay, has been defcribed already; but we faw the fame drefs only once more during our ftay upon the coaft, and that was in Queen Charlotte's Sound. The women, contrary to the custom of the sex in general, feemed to affect drefs rather lefs than the men their hair, which, as I have obferved before, is generally cropt fhort, is never tied upon the top of the head when it is fuffered to be long, nor is it ever adorned with feathers. Their garments were made of the fame materials, and in the fame form, as thofe of the other fex, but the lower one was always bound fast round them, except when they went into the water to catch lobsters, and then they took great care not to be feen by the men. Some of us happening one day to land upon a small ifland in Tolaga Bay, we furprized feveral of them at this employment; and the chafte Diana, with her nymphs, could not have difcovered more confufion and distress at the fight of Acteon, than these women expreffed upon our approach. Some of them hid themfelves among the rocks, and the reft crouched down in the fea till they had made themfelves a girdle and apron of fuch weeds as they could find, and |